Three Blind Mice
by dares to dream
Summary: Summer break is almost over with no mysteries of yet. But when a double murder occurs near Nancy's home, she asks the Hardy boys for help in solving it. As more murders occur, the three must figure out who the killer is or their lives could be forfeit.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all, this is my first attempt at a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boy fanfiction, I have other stories in the works under other topics, but this kinda just popped into my head and I figured I should give it a shot. As of now, I am in love with the plot in my mind. I hope you all like it and please review to tell me what ya'll think!!

This is more of a prologue by the way.

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Three blind mice,  
Three blind mice  
See how they run,  
See how they run!

They all ran after  
The farmer's wife  
She cut off their tails  
With a carving knife  
Did you ever see  
Such a sight in your life  
As three blind mice?

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1

"I just don't know what to say to her. She has hurt me, acting the way she does, but I still don't want to make this hard on her. What do you think I should do?" Cassandra asked as she paced back and forth, practically wearing a trail in the carpeting.

Matt sat, backwards in her desk chair. His eyes followed her movements as she walked. This had been going on for hours since he had come over her house for dinner, who knew what she had been doing before then. It was obvious to anyone who had known her for as long as he that his friend was worried.

Telling someone you do not want to be their friend is never easy, he knew that from personal experience. Putting himself in her shoes, he could tell how much this was weighing on her mind.

Never had she lost a friend in a fight. Sure, they had drifted away as the years went by, but not once had there been a true argument. And flat out stating she wanted nothing to do with this girl was a whole new realm.

The strange thing was that he had never met this Felicity girl. Not once had he even heard about her either, which was very strange.

He sighed, and for what seemed the hundredth time that night, gave her his advice. "I still believe that if you were to just write a letter about what is going on and send it to her, things will be solved, case closed."

Cassandra, as with every other time her friend gave his advice, answered. "But don't you think that a little _cold_? I will be first to admit that Felicity is a pain, but that doesn't mean I have to hurt her feelings by making it seem like I can't even look at her! That would make me a coward as well wouldn't it? Not being able to face someone who just annoys, embarrasses, and is rude to my family is so gutless! If she had only been harassing me, then maybe this wouldn't be so bad, but she just _had_ to go insulting my parents of all people! You know how I feel about my family!" She had begun to use her arms and hands to emphasize her points.

This conversation had taken a new turn, Matt realized. This time, instead of being worried about how receptive Felicity would be to her confrontation, Cassandra began ranting about how the girl had been uncouth to her father while a guest in his own home.

He had known Cassandra for as long as he could remember, eighteen years to be exact. They had been neighbors up until six years ago, when she moved a few miles away. And he, more than anyone, knew how protective she was about her family.

To outsiders, she would go on and on about how bothersome her younger brother and sister were, especially being twins. She would also fume about all the little mistakes she could find about her mother and father, but deep down she would never let anything happen to them. If someone asked her to forfeit her life in order to let them live, she would do so in an instant.

The same went towards all of her friends. Her fierce sense of loyalty seemed to rub off on others, for one would be hard pressed to find someone who was not, at least, an affable acquaintance with Cass, as he liked to call her. Matt supposed that her reliability was one of the reasons breaking up with Felicity was very nearly killing her.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a loud outburst as Cassandra flopped down upon her bed.

"That is it! I am tired of all this anxiety about how _she_ feels! No one slights my family and gets away with it and what she did was simply inexcusable. She deserves to be told outright why I want nothing to do with her." Cassandra's wild black hair radiated around her head like a thundercloud as jumped back up off her bed, grabbing her jacket before making her way out of the room.

Matt remained sitting for a minute, stunned by her dramatic mood change. Shaking his head he followed her. "Might as well follow her to make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble. And besides, this could be quite the show to watch." Chuckling he walked through the streets, remembering how he and his friend had so often gotten themselves into hitches when they were younger.

His laughter was soon drowned out by a sudden and sharp scream a block down the road. Matt's head jerked up as he realized it sounded just like Cass, and sprinted until he arrived at the opening to an alleyway. The sun was setting and cast a shadow over the entire pathway, but as clear as day, he saw the prone body of a teenage girl. Her dark hair fanned out on the pavement and was coated in a glistening substance.

Slowly, Matt stepped forward toward the body and checked for a pulse. There was none. He could almost feel the sweat beading on his fore head and pouring down his face as he turned the girl over to see her face, praying that it was not his good friend. There was a sound behind him and he turned, briefly ignoring the dead person to see who it was. What he saw stunned him.

"No…did you…did you do this?" He asked the person, he could feel a dull pain in his arm, but thought nothing of it as he eyed the long metal rod gripped in their hand. The last thing he saw was the figure nodding before immense pain exploded in his chest and all was dark.

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was that too much background for Cass and Matt? I kinda got carried away..sorry! haha. PLEASE review! I need to know if I should continue!


	2. Chapter 2

:wipes sweat off forehead: finally got this all typed up. you had better like this xXetceteraXx cause I am going to sleep as soon as it is up. Some of us cant sleep until past noon.

Thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews last chapter! I loved the advice and will try my hardest to remember what ya'll told me.

I hope you like this. And for those of you who are wondering...the Hardy boys shall arrive in chapter three! yipee!!

((Disclaimer--I do not own anything that you may or may not recognize from the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boy books. I have only read (both of) their hard back series from like the thirties and fourties, and none of the supermysteries or anything. So don't hound me on things that I dont know havent happened, like Joe's girlfriend dying. To me, it never happened.))

Also: Nancy is going to be 18, Frank is also 18, and Joe 17. (Thanks to Lady Emily and CherryBlossomSandy for telling me he is one year younger!)

enjoy:

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2

The sun shone brightly through the blinds as the young woman crawled out of bed. Glancing at her clock, Nancy Drew realized it was already nine. Her alarm had been useless the past few days, something was wrong with the wiring and she needed to go out for a new one.

She could have asked Hannah Gruen, the housekeeper, to wake her, but sometimes it was nice to sleep in; especially when there had been nothing to do all summer but laze about.

In reality, this was what most typical high school students did during their freedom from the stress of homework, but of all the things Nancy was described as, normal was not one of them.

For her life would only be normal if there was a mystery to solve. All summer there had not been one case her dad, Carson Drew, a well respected lawyer, needed her assistance on. Nor had she come across any accidentally as she so often did. Not even her close friends, Frank and Joe Hardy, had asked for her help on a case. It was a very strange break indeed.

Nancy pulled on comfortable shorts and shirt before trudging down the steps, while wiping the sleep out of her eyes.

Upon entering the kitchen she grabbed the box of Cheerios, milk, and an apple. It had become her customary breakfast over the last few weeks. A bowl of cereal with fruit, it was a small and healthy breakfast that was enough to satisfy Hannah, who was constantly hounding her about not eating enough.

Her father was already at his office, and Hannah was out in the backyard working in the small vegetable garden that grew behind the garage. The Drew house seemed cold and lonely to the teen.

Hoping to make it seem less forlorn, Nancy flipped through the channels on the television until she came to the morning news.

At first there was only the weather forecast: hot and muggy with no chance of rain. No one in the town of River Heights needed a meteorologist to tell them that, though, for it had been the same forecast for weeks. The last time they had seen rain was on Independence Day, ruining everyone's firework celebrations and grill outs.

"And now, breaking news." Began a male reporter. "Last night a young man and woman were found dead in an alleyway. The female, identified as twenty year old, Felicity Ying, died of a fatal blow to the head, which the coroner says caused severe brain damage and ruptured numerous blood cells. The man, Matthew Reynold. An eighteen year old from the East end, died of a heart attack. His parents are not taking interviews at the time discussing their son's untimely end. We have been told that the murder weapon was not at the scene of the crime and it is not yet clear how the two victims are related. The police are not releasing any information on suspects regarding this case. In other news a local mother gives birth to…"

Nancy's thoughts drifted away from the next segment of the broadcast as she went over the announcement she had just heard. A man and woman, with seemingly no connection to one another found dead. One was hit in the head and killed, while the other died of seemingly natural means.

It was not often that murders occurred in her small city she called home. There was one, maybe two, every few months, and the culprits were often apprehended within a few days of the crime. And the authorities always had a suspect in mind within a few hours of the crime itself.

Maybe she was simply getting impatient waiting for a new case to present itself for so long, but there was something that did not click right in her mind. Something simply felt off about this.

Shaking her head, Nancy put her dishes in the sink and clicked off the T.V. She would ask her dad about it when he came home, maybe he knew more than what the news caster had said.

--thisisaline—

The rest of the day went by in a blur of helping about the house, cleaning her room (for what seemed like the thousandth time in a week) and emailing. Every time her mind wandered from the task she busied herself with, her thoughts went immediately to the murder from the night before. She simply could not shake the feeling that something was different about that case.

Nancy was ready to hit her head repeatedly on the wall to stop thinking about the murders and nearly kissed Hannah when she called her down for dinner. Her father had just arrived home, and she hugged him as she clamored down the steps, nearly throwing him off balance with her weight.

"Hello Dad, how was work today?" She asked him jovially.

He gave her a tired smile. "Busy as usual. Mrs. Frank, the woman I had told you about from a few days before, she is still pestering me to represent her in a case regarding a domestic violence case with her husband. I have told her time and time again that I do not usually represent those types of cases, but she rambles on about drugs and how odd her husband has been to her of late. The problem is, her husband has also come to me a few times asking me for help and has told me she is the abusive one, and even locked him in a closet!" Mr. Drew sighed and rubbed his hands over his face in exasperation.

"If they do not stop harassing me I will be forced to kick them out. I do not like doing that, especially when there is someone who needs a lawyer, but neither husband nor wife seems to agree with a story. Both claim the other is violent while the other is perfectly innocent. It gives me a headache just thinking about what would happen if I was to side with one of them."

Hannah patted his back telling him to just ignore them, and hopefully they will go away. Seeing her chance, Nancy decided to ask about what she had heard earlier before her dad began to rant once more.

"Dad, did you happen to hear about the homicide last night? I saw a blurb about it on the news this morning and wondered if you had heard anything more about what transpired." She tried, in vain, not to sound as eager for information as she felt.

Carson chuckled as he stared at his daughter. "Let me guess, you heard about it, and how there are no suspects and thought that you might be able to let out some of your anxiety by doing a little sleuthing?" He grinned as he saw a blush creeping along her cheeks.

"Well, for your information. I did see Chief McGinnis at the café during lunch break today. I know the two of you have not been on the best of terms in the past, so it surprised me when he asked me for your help in solving the crime."

Nancy's eyes went wide as she imagined how humiliating it must have been for the Chief to ask her father for his teenage daughter's help in solving a murder. She only wished she could have been there to see his face when he asked her father.

"And what did you say to him?" Eagerness was written across her face.

Her father sighed. "I told him you may help." He held a hand up before Nancy could say anything. "But on one condition. I do not want you gallivanting about the city looking for some unknown murderer alone. I figured that there had to be someone out there willing to help you on this next endeavor, and you wouldn't turn this case down now matter what conditions I put in place, am I right?"

Nancy laughed. "You know me too well, Dad. Who should I call though? Bess and George are on a family vacation on Hilton Head Island and won't be back for another two weeks, and Ned, well. I don't really think he would be interested even if he were home and not in North Dakota with his Great Aunt." Her eyes clouded over as she remembered the fight the two of them had had just before he left, three weeks ago.

They had been eating dinner at the new Japanese grill, and Ned was unseemly quiet. Halfway through the meal Nancy finally got him to tell her what was on his mind. He had told her that he was not sure he liked her anymore; things just did not feel like they once had for him. That each time she got herself stuck in a tight situation on one of her many mysteries he felt like he could literally worry himself to death, and he was tired of that.

Nancy, in turn, was shocked at what he had told her. Sleuthing was as much a part of her as breathing, and she told him as much. It was not hard for her to see the truth, if he could not like what she enjoyed most, and was best at, their relationship would never work out.

By the time their quiet, though heated, discussion was over, so was dinner. Ned had paid the bill, and dropped her off at her house without saying goodbye.

The very next day, as Nancy was walking Togo, her dog, through the park, she spied him making out with a blond girl she recognized from the Emerson Cheerleading squad. That had been it for her. The two of them had not even spoken to one another since then and it seemed that their bond would never be repaired, even if just to the extent of friendship.

Mr. Drew sensed his daughter thinking about what had occurred all those weeks ago and decided to interrupt her before she forgot about what they had been conferring before, completely.

"What about the Hardy's. I have been talking to Fenton and it sounds like they have been bored nearly to tears as well this summer. I am sure they would love to come over here and help out." He said, looking at Hannah he saw an odd spark in her eye and knew that the housekeeper would most assuredly be playing matchmaker in the near future.

Nancy looked up, happier than he had seen her even when she found out she could assist on solving the homicide. "Dad that's a great idea! I'll call them now, hopefully they can come as soon as possible!" She jumped up from her chair and grabbed the phone in the hallway, punching in their number as fast as possible.

"Hi, Mr. Hardy. This is Nancy Drew. Is Frank or Joe there? Okay, if you could put them both on that would be great, thank you.

Hey Frank, Joe, there's a mystery over here that needs unraveling, are you interested?" She had to pull the phone away from here ear so as not to damage it from the loud "Yes!" that came from the brothers. Life was finally going to get exciting again, for better or for worse.

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I am happy to announce that the story only got slightly random and hyper in the middle due to ice cream. normally it is very very very random and hyper when that happens.

next chapter: the Hardy's arrive and the trio is briefed on their newest case and a whole buncha other stuff I have no idea about yet!

REVIEW PLEASE (hey i DID say please!)


	3. Chapter 3

**Well...look who finally got around to updating. (Well, writing in general I suppose...writer's block is such a horrid disease. It takes forever to pass through your system.)**

Thank you Warren for helping me get past that awful illness. I know you aren't reading this, but Athena can't thank you enough.

**Believe it or not I do actually have a plot set up for this story. Chapters will be between 1,000 and 2,000 in length and I don't expect this story to surpass 30,000 this time. At least that is what I have planned for the moment.**

**((Disclaimer-I do not own anything related to Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys. Anything you do now recognize, I also do not own because I don't have the money to copywrite characters or plots. Welcome to the life of a jobless student.))**

**Reviews are to fanfiction authors as blood is to vampires.**

**And no, not the glimmery ones that millions of irritating little girls seem to fawn over. The serious I'm-gonna-kill-you-all Vlad the Impaler kind. (btw. If you need a long, intense, and great book to read: **_The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova_**. Even vampire-haters like myself will like it)**

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**3**

The soft morning sun lit up the quaint coffee shop in River Heights. There were few people milling about at that time on a Sunday and the slight murmur of voices could barely be heard over the drone of the coffee machines.

Sitting at a small circular table tapping her foot against the ground, sat a young woman flipping through a legal pad full of hastily scrawled notes. Her strawberry blond hair shimmered in the dimmed lights of the café, and her eyes reflected a similar glistening as they read over the pages. For the first time in months, Nancy Drew felt as if she had a purpose. She had something to focus on, something to dedicate herself to, something to solve.

Her father had taught her when she was young that a person without a mission was a person lost. Every person had their own use in life, and without finding that use, they were only a shadow of themselves. Without a mystery occupying her thoughts, Nancy was that shade. The entire summer she had merely been a ghost of her real self. The laziness of the days seemed to suck whatever life she had in her, straight out.

Now however, as she scanned over the brief outline Chief McGinnis had provided her with the previous night, she could feel herself returning. Her mouth couldn't help but turn upwards in a small smile as she could feel her heart thudding faster at the prospects of new questions to ask and answers to find.

The girl sipped her steaming coffee slowly, savoring the taste for a bit before looking back at the notes. She noticed her finger tapping impatiently and sighed a bit before making it still.

Her fingers only tapped when she was nervous. She had no reason to be nervous at the moment, did she? Sure she was about to start a new case, a murder investigation no less. She had helped out on cases like that before though, nothing new. Or perhaps it was who she was about to meet? It had been over a year since she had seen the Hardy's last.

Her last case with the two brothers was a challenging one, and it took everything they had and more to solve it. Weeks upon weeks were spent trying to dredge up information on a ring of thieves that had hit over twenty stores. It was a difficult time, and everyone's nerves had been stretched to their greatest extent.

Nancy chewed her lip and stared into her mug. It was also the last case she and Ned had been together. After the second week of investigation, he began to try to delay her from going out to look for clues with the Hardy's. Then he began to talk to her about giving up, telling her spending so much time on the case was not worth all her efforts. It was after a month of investigation that Ned came up to her one day and gave her a final ultimatum: leave the case or he'd leave her.

If he had truly known and appreciated her, he would have known what her response would be.

Since then she had only seen him around town, exchanging only the blandest pleasantries. Surprisingly, she was happier since he left. She had more freedom in her cases without him trying to talk her out of them, but she missed knowing he was around when she needed a shoulder to lean on.

At the time however, the breakup was a low blow for her. Even worse for her, was that the Hardy's had witnessed Ned's ultimatum, and her reaction afterwards. Perhaps that was for the better as well though, because they became the shoulders she needed at the time. Since then, Frank even took it upon himself to call her up every once in a while just to ask how she was doing.

Nancy grinned into her now cold coffee. Every time the phone rang, a part of her hoped it was Frank. She enjoyed talking to him far more than anyone else she had met, even if it was about the most trivial of things.

A television from across the room was flipped on casually, landing on one of the local news channels. There was little surprised for Nancy when the main story was that of her new case. Although the scanty facts given by the peppy morning reporter seemed to engross most of the café, it merely made the young sleuth every more anxious to get a start that day. She got up sighing, but was stopped when a young woman spoke next to her shoulder.

"There doesn't seem to be much to go on for the cops, does it?" The black haired woman answered as she stared curiously at the tv. Nancy thought for a moment it was rhetorical, until she looked towards her a moment later. "It's such a shame." The stranger commented.

"Yes, yes it is. But I am certain the authorities will have some more information sooner or later." Nancy smiled towards her. "After all, the day is just beginning."

The woman's disquieting green eyes pierced Nancy's blue. "Indeed it is, indeed it is." And then turned back towards the television set.

One could have commented that that particular alley was dead quiet when Nancy arrived there, but for the few uniforms sprinkled about, but the irony of the statement would have cheered none.

The bodies had long been removed from the scene; all that was left of their life was bland white outlines on the grime. Photos had been taken and processed overnight, and all evidence labeled and situated on some detective's desk downtown.

To Nancy however, the scene was fresh. The chalk disappeared into the air and was replaced with solidifying images of a man and a woman. The stark absence of dirt from the area to the left was now replaced with an object. The dented garbage can to the right still held its contents, possibly the murder weapon.

To the amateur detective, all this was seen in the minds eye before she had even spent five minutes in the alley. And yet, her mind's reproduction of the scene had yet to yield any hint as to what truly transpired the evening previous. Or, more importantly, who caused it.

The two cops were chatting near the opposite entrance to the alley with who seemed to be a fellow officer, although he was not in uniform. Knowing they had the crime scene photos in hand, and curious to see what they had thus far, she began to make her way over.

Two steps in however, hands converged from nowhere, enclosing her eyes in darkness and wrapping around her torso.

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(ha...that last part said 'raping around her torso' ...good thing that was noticed...

**Please review with any thoughts, comments, suggestions, love letters, hate mail, poems, soliloquies, or any other kind of constructive comments.**

**We are all writers striving for some sort of imagined perfection. So please: review.**

**Until next time. :)**

**+dares to dream+ / Athena**


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